Why is a prayer gathering called a service? It seems unfitting to describe a religious event with a term usually associated with business and/or recreational activities? “The service at… is superb”. “…notorious for excellent service”. “Room service at…”. “…died while in the service”. “…I had my car serviced”. But a “prayer service”?! Who is serving whom what?

Yes, we do read in Exodus, that the Israelites were taken out of Egyptian slavery in order to become God’s slaves. Thus, the Rabbis teach that the highest and most profound form of freedom is serving our Redeemer. Indeed, synagogue prayer is one of the ways in which we serve. Hence, the term prayer service.

Yet the term still fails to describe the attitude or mental framework with which most of us attend prayer gatherings. How often do you walk into your congregation’s prayer space desiring and ready to slave for your creator? Let’s be real!

It seems to me that a different use of the word service may “fine-tune” the description of our prayer gatherings and broaden our related intentional framework. What if we switched metaphors from the exotic experience of Exodus to the common experience of vehicle maintenance?

Just like a vehicle requires periodic service to keep from premature wear and breakdown, so too does our soul. Our car receives an oil change every 3000 miles and a special service protocol every 10000 miles. Every how many life-miles do we service our soul? Our vehicle’s service procedure includes replacing old filters with new ones. When did we last maintain our spirit filters?

Jewish tradition indeed calls for reflection, moral sharpening, and behavioral re-patterning; a soul filter change as it were. And if that is so couldn’t praying together in community be considered our soul’s service-station?

So often so many describe their experience of communal prayer as rather a disservice. So next time you pull up to services, ask not who I serve or who will serve me. Instead ask yourself how can my inner life’s engine best be serviced. Ask which part of my psyche is maintenance due and which one of my moral systems is ready for a tune-up.

It is up to each one of us to transform our worship practices from mere services into inner servicing of the soul. Bon voyage.